What If Tom...

Crack, crack, crack...

Inside the cabin, Zephyr's entire body heated up, his skin turning an unnatural red as strange sounds came from every bone in his body.

The transformation came quickly and ended quickly. In less than five minutes, the changes in Zephyr's body were over.

"Whew!"

After exhaling a breath of stale air, Zephyr rose to his feet, his face full of excitement.

Following the instructions of the "seniors" in the Chat Group, he had claimed the Basic Gift Pack. Sure enough, his very essence had been enhanced.

His physical strength had reached its peak. Zephyr felt that he was no weaker than Charlotte Linlin's Iron Balloon body, perhaps even faintly stronger.

That was because Zephyr's body had returned to the healthy prime of his life. His asthma had vanished, he had regained his youth, and his lifespan had even reached a thousand years at minimum. (PS: Zephyr had not lost his arm yet during this period.)

All three types of Haki had been fully awakened. Zephyr's two basic forms of Haki had already reached perfection, and this foundational enhancement was like adding wings to a tiger. Coupled with the Conqueror's Haki he had long believed he would never master after that incident, Zephyr felt that he could now beat up at least two Garps.

After all, Garp had already begun to age, just like everyone else from his generation.

The final gift was all recorded combat knowledge from this world throughout history, including swords, sabers, axes, clubs, firearms, cannons, bows, arrows, and more.

His body and Haki had been fundamentally enhanced, and he had also gained enough martial knowledge to establish his own school.

On this day, Zephyr once again stood at the pinnacle of the sea.

While Zephyr absorbed the gifts from the pack, Flender and the other two were chatting in the Chat Group.

[Flender: @Dumbledore, Principal Dumbledore, how did things go? Can you ensure that the students at Hogwarts will be able to study happily and without worries from now on?]

[Dumbledore: It is a good start. In the Room of Requirement, I have already obtained Ravenclaw's Diadem, and I have also found the entrance to Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets. Tonight, I plan to face the Basilisk.]

Dumbledore replied rationally. Finding the diadem in the Room of Requirement was simple; he only needed to focus on what he wanted.

Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets had initially posed some difficulty. Although Dumbledore understood Parseltongue, he could only understand it, not speak it, much less command snakes. Fortunately, Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets had a "voice-controlled door." After watching the movie once, Dumbledore remembered the tone needed to open it, and imitating it was easy.

After receiving the Chat Group's enhancement, Dumbledore had even mastered Parseltongue. He could both understand and speak it.

As for the Basilisk, it had not actively harmed a single person in a thousand years. It had only begun attacking people after being bewitched by Tom.

In the best-case scenario, Dumbledore did not intend to kill it. It was school property, as well as a gift left behind by Slytherin.

Besides, every part of the Basilisk was valuable. Its shed skin was excellent potion material, while its venom was a weapon capable of completely destroying Horcruxes.

However, that was not the only method. Fiendfyre could also destroy Horcruxes. As for whether Dumbledore could use Fiendfyre... well, that was a stupid question.

But Dumbledore could not make a decision regarding one final matter concerning the Basilisk.

Myrtle Warren, an innocent victim. Dumbledore was filled with the same regret for her that he felt for his own sister.

If he had paid a little more attention to this child, cared a little more about this child, then perhaps everything would have been different.

[Flender: A Basilisk? A magical and dangerous creature, but it is indeed a safety hazard.]

[Dumbledore: Indeed. Its eyes make it far less harmless than the giant squid in the Black Lake.]

[Samuel Oak: That may be true, but I think that great snake had no choice.]

Professor Oak stroked his chin. Perhaps because he had spent so much time living alongside Pokémon, even knowing that the Basilisk was dangerous and had even killed people, he could still view it calmly.

[Samuel Oak: Aside from being manipulated twice by people with ulterior motives, that Basilisk had lived in Hogwarts' underground chambers for more than a thousand years. It survived by eating Nezumi and other creatures. Without that Tom, I believe it still would not have harmed anyone.]

[Samuel Oak: Leaving everything else aside, it was an inheritance left behind by Slytherin. Although Slytherin ultimately parted ways with the founders of Hogwarts, I do not believe a teacher like that would harm his own students.]

[Dumbledore: Slytherin's inheritance, you say?]

[Flender: Come to think of it, aside from Gryffindor's relics, the relics of Hogwarts' other founders seem to have all been defiled by that Tom.]

[Flender: Principal Dumbledore, does Hogwarts not actively search for the founders' relics?]

Flender was puzzled by this. If he were the leader of Hogwarts, he would definitely explore the founders' relics proactively.

Aside from their historical significance, those relics generally possessed genuine magical functions. The accumulation of time was usually reflected in such things.

[Dumbledore: I believe I can answer that question very simply, Mr. Flender.]

[Dumbledore: The Four Founders all had descendants in addition to Hogwarts, and their relics were often passed down to those descendants rather than Hogwarts. This castle is already the finest relic we received. More precisely, I prefer to call it a gift.]

[Dumbledore: Salazar Slytherin's Locket, Marvolo Gaunt's Ring, and Helga Hufflepuff's Cup are all examples of this.]

[Dumbledore: However, Hogwarts still possesses many of their relics: the Sorting Hat, the Sword of Gryffindor, the library, Hufflepuff's recipes, and so on.]

[Dumbledore: We actually also have Ravenclaw's Diadem. It is simply that this castle holds too many secrets, so we failed to find it.]

[Dumbledore: And Tom... he truly was a genius...]

[Dumbledore: I failed to watch over him properly.]

As Dumbledore spoke, he recalled the past. His light blue eyes dimmed. If he had paid more attention to Tom back then, would things have been different...

[Flender: Mr. Dumbledore, that had nothing to do with you. At the time, you were merely the head of Transfiguration, not even the headmaster. Tom had so many teachers; were you supposed to blame yourself for every one of them?]

[Flender: Besides, your only major interactions with him were bringing him to Hogwarts and refusing to let him become a Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.]

[Flender: A child who had been called out for his mistakes showed not the slightest remorse. Instead, he hid and packaged himself even more deeply. Then, after being refused a teaching post, he cursed that position. That only proves that his nature was twisted.]

Flender found Tom deeply repulsive. Or rather, a terrorist who attacked a school had little charm to speak of in the first place.

Vlad recalled that, in his previous life, there had been a period when reversal novels became mainstream. They often smeared righteous characters and whitewashed villains, while some fanfiction characters would stop at nothing for women.

By nature, Flender disliked such things greatly. Setting everything else aside, whitewashing someone like Voldemort... was there really anything about such a person worth whitewashing?

[Zephyr: Why regret someone whose nature was twisted? The best ending for someone like that is to rot in prison or simply die.]

Zephyr twisted his neck. Having just finished the Harry Potter story, he deeply despised people like Voldemort.

He was scum who destroyed peace for his own selfish desires, trampled upon the changes people made through their own efforts, and destroyed other people's families.

If someone like that ever appeared among his disciples, Zephyr would execute him on the spot.

Even Sakazuki, who had ordered his death, and Borsalino, who had truly killed him, inspired no particular feelings in Zephyr.

They had merely stood on different sides.

But Voldemort was different. He was simply human trash.

[Samuel Oak: They are right, Mr. Dumbledore. Voldemort's birth had nothing to do with you or Hogwarts. In fact, you and Hogwarts were even able to foresee and delay his emergence.]

[Samuel Oak: If that Tom had appeared somewhere else, such as Durmstrang, the school where Dark Arts are the main subject, the consequences would have been unimaginable.]

[Samuel Oak: With powerful and evil talent, a personality skilled at disguising itself, and such a terrible environment, he would have been more than twice as terrifying as he is now.]

Upon seeing those messages, Dumbledore suddenly found it hard to breathe. What if Tom had attended Durmstrang instead of Hogwarts?

Dumbledore found it difficult to believe, because Grindelwald had attended Durmstrang.

A Grindelwald with more brutal methods, a more twisted personality, and even more evil Dark Arts...

In that case, Dumbledore had no confidence that he could defeat him.

[Dumbledore: A Tom who attended Durmstrang? That truly would have been terrifying.]

[Dumbledore: Now I truly have to be grateful that Tom attended Hogwarts.]